Wilber

Territorial is the British term for reservist. It seems you prefer the American.

Lets see, when I was a kid in Vancouver there were the Beatty Street and Seaforths armories, The Eburne, and Kitsilano airforce stations and the Jerico Beach Naval station all in or near the city. Eburne is now just another part of YVR, Kits and Jerico are now parks. The armories are still used to some degree but not near what they used to be. Troops in our cities? We did quite nicely with them before. The Van Doos are still based in Quebec City are they not?

A somewhat easier position to take if you were not personally effected. In Ms Fonda's case it wasn't hypothetical.

We bought F-18's, the F101's and F104's they replaced, the Leopards and the Centurions they replaced, the Navy's destroyers, frigates and submarines all for peacekeeping? Not. Does Granastein have a new book out?

Would you have the same opinion if a Canadian celebrity went to Afghanistan and posed with a bunch of Taliban, a big grin on their face holding an RPG or suicide bombers belt? Have you never met someone you didn't like and your opinion of them has never changed? Possibly if you had close friends or family killed in that war, you might have a different opinion of the lady.

In most cases hate is probably too strong a word. Intense dislike is probably more accurate. They don't blame her for their injuries but they do blame her for giving aid and comfort to the people trying to kill them and rightly so. Opposing a war is one thing, openly taking the other side is quite another.

I don't doubt there are many Viet Nam vets who oppose the war in Iraq but wildly applaud Fonda? In your dreams.

General Hillier has said the military is not the best suited for overall development and diplomacy. Somehow I don't think the military as being the best in running a school, do you? Protecting a school, yes, but not running a school. Hillier was saying it cost far more to use a professional soldier to build roads and bridges. He said the only reason they have been doing it is because it hasn't been secure enough for contractors. In the areas that are secured, the military ought to, needs to, get development agencies and contractors in to build the infrastructure and services. This is what the 3Ds is all about. Two thousand soldiers can't be everywhere. Defence has to be their main assignment. Yes, defence has to be their main assignment and because of that they are the best judge of what is possible.

I think it's time to move on. Fonda is ancient history. If the vets can't let go of that, I encourage them to seek counselling. Ever been to war Newbie? Neither have I but I can tell you one thing, these guys are my generation and I've had the privilege of knowing and working with more than a few of them over the years. I would never think of saying something like that to their face, or behind their back for that matter. When their buddies were getting shot out of the sky and if lucky enough to survive, got to spend years in a North Viet Nam prison, seeing Hanoi Jane sitting on a NVA anti aircraft gun for a photo op with a big shit eating grin on her face, lets just say they have a completely different take on the woman.

So they are responsible for diplomacy and development as well? To a degree certainly. As they are the people doing the job, their opinion of the situation counts a great deal IMO.

I don't think most Canadians appreciate how much Fonda is hated by the majority of Viet Nam vets, regardless of their feelings about being in that war.

Among other things.

What is Canadian then if not the integrety of the country? Without it, there is no Canadian.

The clip says nothing about "some other right wingers" calling Obama a Halfrican American so Rush is not the only one who can make stuff up. First time I have ever heard him called a comedian though. Somehow that word just doesn't come to mind when I think of old Rush.

Paranoids who see a plot behind every rock.

It's not really about ignoring the sacrifices made by those who did peace keeping and perhaps it is not a 'Liberal myth" but it is a myth when people maintain that it is the bulk of Canada's military history, which to anyone who studies this country's history, it clearly is not. Unfortunately the role has largely become redundant, there is precious little peace to keep in the world today. Blame that on who you will but it is a fact.

We can blame the US for that - they pressured Canada to reduce passport validity periods after some high profile murderer was caught living in the US with a Canadian passport. If so, now that they require passports from Canadians and theirs are good for ten years, we should tell them to get stuffed if they don't like it and also go to ten years. Of course now that we have a bureaucracy that is dependent on a five year system, it will probably be impossible to get rid of it. By a rip I meant that because a US passport is good for 10 years and a Canadian for only 5, when you figure in exchange it costs a American about 11 dollars per year and a Canadian over 17 dollars to maintain a passport. That doesn't include the extra expense and inconvenience of a Canadian having to go through the process twice as often. British passports are also good for 10 years and even though their cost just went up, a British passport is still cheaper than a Canadian passport on a per year basis. That is why I say Canadian passports are a rip.

Canadian passports are a rip off anyway. They cost almost as much as a US passport and are only good for half as long.

It's interesting that Canadians can be critical of American isolationism keeping them out of the World Wars for so long, yet advocate Canada doing the same thing. Somehow I don't see pulling the covers over our head and ignoring what goes on in the rest of the world as a Canadian "Achievement". Also, neutral countries are forced to maintain a strong military to ensure their security, because they have no allies.

What particular contracts do you mean?

I think the military's approval of O'Conner is huge. He is the first Defense Minister in a long time to actually put the people he is responsible for first. You can't underestimate how important that is for the people who depend on him to look after their interests. Everyone wants to work for a person like that. I just don't agree with him on this one issue.

Are you an FN person?

Given his government position, I don't think he was the smartest cookie to respond laughing. But at the same time, I don't think it's as big of a deal that he did as people are making it out to be, I think many other people would have done the same. Nonetheless, I think the reaction would be the equal (if not worse), if it had been a Liberal who responded as such. In fact, I can practically hear the "hypocritical Liberal" accusations about the "elite champagne-socialists" as opposed to the "typical conservative racist." If you were to be honest with yourself, you know that it is indeed a partisan issue, and if it were a Liberal who'd done the same, many conservatives on this forum (who are currently denying that these actions are offensive) would be screaming otherwise. Of course it is a partisan issue. Of course there would be the same kind of asinine reaction if a Liberal had said it. That is why it is crap. As someone else said, if he is guilty of anything it is not covering his ass. There seems to be no greater crime as far as politicians or bureaucrats are concerned.

I wasn't aware we were trying to conquer the place.

It will be interesting to see how much if any outrage comes from the native community. So far all I have seen is non natives being outraged for them. Or is it outraged civil servants. I notice the media didn't think it offensive enough not to repeat it.